“Shouldn’t I be checking this place out?” That fateful question had often crossed my mind when driving over the Loss Creek Bridge, on Vancouver Island’s Highway 14. The towering Sitka spruce there, rising high into the mist, had long captured my imagination, but invariably I had been concerned with other destinations. Whether it was wandering the tide pools of Botanical Beach, camping at China Beach, or hiking on the Juan de Fuca Trail, I’d always carried on, leaving my curiosity unsatisfied.
There are times, when something eludes you, that you’ve overlooked the simplest of details. That was the case when it came to my first meeting with British Columbia’s champion arbutus. I knew that the tree grew on Vancouver Island, but to start with, I had mistakenly thought it could be found in the Victoria area.
It was the strangest of apparitions on a cool, rainy morning in the Nahmint River Valley. A gnarled, towering, broken topped Douglas fir, rising abruptly into the mist, beckoning us to make its acquaintance. We had to investigate! Though the tree was a relatively short distance away, precarious ground made for a painstakingly slow approach, and the nearer we got, the more peculiar it became!
The far reaches of the Alberni Valley hold many surprises, but few seem more unlikely than the Heimdallr Fir. This massive coastal Douglas fir has not only survived many centuries, but it has managed to do so despite a wide array of challenges. I visited this well hidden giant in the summer of 2021 with my good friend Greg, who had assured me it was well worth seeing.
It was a warm summer’s day in mid July, as Greg and I trekked our way up a steep, rugged road in the remote reaches of the Alberni Valley. Earlier that year, we had been discussing the forests of Vancouver Island, when he had presented me with an idea. Was I interested in exploring one the most idyllic and impressive yellow cedar groves he had ever seen? The answer, naturally, was an emphatic “Yes!”
It was a sunny spring morning in May of 2018, silent save for the sounds of birds and my bicycle, as I crossed the Hydraulic Creek Bridge. A ride in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR) was certainly nothing unusual for me, but this one was going to be different. Continue reading A Return to the Eagles Nest Grove
“I’m not sure I remember that being there!” That comment, uttered by yours truly at the time, is the kind I seem to make more often these days. The thing is, I think I’m getting to the point in life where some memories seem crystal clear, while others seem closer to a figment of my imagination. Continue reading Chester’s Grove, Back to the Future
It survived for over a thousand years. Think about that. Ten centuries! The Elaho Giant, one of the largest and oldest Douglas firs ever to live in British Columbia, lived at least nine and a half of those centuries in complete solitude. Continue reading Remember the Elaho
Picture the scene. You’re hunting the forests of the Pacific Northwest in search of record giants. On a hillside you can see the outline of a massive trunk in the distance. Is it a Western red cedar? Douglas fir? Whatever the answer is, you’re determined to find out! Continue reading Hiding in Plain Sight: The Elusive Pacific Yew
They nicknamed it Eden Grove, reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, which, in theological lore, was intended to be the paradise where mankind had its hopeful beginnings. Some years ago, Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) happened upon this spectacular grove of trees within Vancouver Island’s Gordon River Valley, not far from Port Renfrew. Continue reading Eden Grove, an Endangered Paradise
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